Our interest in Mary Ann stems from our interest in Leslie DeForest Boyd, whose daughter Florence married into our Steeves clan via William Hoyt Steeves.

We have yet to locate the marriage, death, or obituary documents that might identify the parents of Leslie. We do have a delayed birth record witnessed by one Christopher W Crawford, that identifies Leslie's 1875 birth date, his parents Thomas Boyd and Mary Ann Rankin, and his birth place: Goshen Settlement, Sheba post office, Queens, New Brunswick. Christopher also testifies that he is a "full cousin" and witnessed the birth in his own house when he was 14 years old.

In a typical case, we would next look up the family in the 1881 and 1891 Canadian Census, find Leslie's siblings, and proceed to work our way up the family tree. No such luck.

I have now a conjecture that I think is reasonable, but I have not arrived at this result by any direct path. There are a number of issues with the evidence that I have found confusing. Here follows my best attempt, using hindsight, to argue my case.

In the 1921 Canada Census, Leslie is shown living with "Mary A Crawford", an 86 year old NB native of Irish descent. Her relationship is "mother". We can readily establish she is not the mother of Leslie's wife.

We can then find the death record of Mary Ann Crawford in New Brunswick. She was born in 1836 of George Rankin and Mary Douglas and died in Sheba in 1924. The death was reported by Leslie D Boyd, her son!

We can now find a record in the CANADA census of 1851 showing George and Mary Rankin living with an apropriately aged Mary Ann Rankin. They live in Studholm Parish of Kings County which is just across the county line from Johnston Parish of Queens County wherein lies the Goshen Settlement.

Now comes the fun part! With some creative searching you can find the following 3 census records - all situated in Johnston Parish, Queens County:

Several issues suggest themselves to me in the above data:

1. Where are George, James, and Robert in 1861?
2. Why did Thomas and Mary Ann wait until 1869 to get married?
3. If Mary is widowed in 1871, is Thomas in 1871 her father-in-law?
4. If Mary is widowed in 1871, who fathered Cathrine (and Leslie)?
5. Are Robert and Dobson the same child?
6. Are John and Douglas the same child?
7. Where is Leslie in 1881?

Issues 1 and 7 remain unexplained at this writing, but I believe that I can provide satisfactory answers to issues 2-6, and that in doing so, I will make a strong case for these three census entries as representing the same (and our Leslie's) family.

Issue 2 - the marriage

Quite a few Ancestry trees have linked this marriage record to the 1924 death record (and hence the 1836 birth) of our Mary Ann Rankin. In fact, that is an error. The Charlotte County marriage matches another Mary Ann Rankin to another Thomas Boyd!

If you search carefully, you will find at least one more astute researcher who has identified this couple correctly. The Charlotte wife died in 1882 and her Thomas remarried and relocated across the border to Maine. (Charlotte County shares a border with Maine.)

Although I have yet to locate a marriage record for our couple, it seems reasonable to assume it occurred in the early to mid 1850s.

Issues 3 & 4 - the death of Thomas

In indexing the 1871 document, the indexer reported Mary Ann as a widow. This is justified by both the markings on the document and by the age difference between Mary and Thomas. Clearly the marking in the "marital status" column for Mary is different than that for Thomas. The mark for Thomas is clearly a script capital M. The mark for Mary is clearly different, could be a W, and has the horizontal bar at mid height that is sometimes found in script W's of this period. However, if you scan down the page, you will note that each couple is marked the same way. The head of household get the fancy M and the spouse gets the more compact form. [If you scroll back two page to page 47, you find several examples of this recorders actual marking for widows.]

I think that this Thomas is in fact her husband and that he probably did not die until late in the 1870s - after Leslie was born.

I cannot account for the age of 79. It could be a mistaken attempt to write "46", which would be about right, but I cannot fault the indexer for reading it as 79.

Issue 5 - Robert Dobson

Robert and Dobson are the same child - Robert Dobson Boyd. On the marriage of Robert Boyd to Theresa Laskey, Robert's parents are Thomas Boyd and Mary Boyd. On the birth of their child - Earl James Boyd - the father is listed as "Robert Dobson Boyd". On the subsequent marriage of Robert to Alice Murphy, his mother is listed as Mary Rankine.

Issue 6 - John Douglas

John and Douglas are the same child - John Douglas Boyd. On the marriage of John D Boyd (note the "D") to Sarah Dougherty, his parents are listed as Thomas Boyd and Mary Ann Boyd. On the birth of their child - Russell LeRoy Boyd - the father is listed as John Douglas Boyd.

One last thread to tie these siblings together occurs in the 1891 census when an appropriately aged Robert Boyd and his new family are hosting brothers John and Leslie. John is a bit young but Leslie is just as expected.

Also in 1891, James and his bride are living with Mary Ann and William Crawford.